Bethune-Cookman still faces long list of employee lawsuits

Sunday

Jun 2, 2013 at 5:17 PMJun 2, 2013 at 9:02 PM

A judge's award of nearly $771,000 to former football coach Alvin Wyatt in a breach of contract case didn't put an end to the legal wrangling over employee dismissals faced by Bethune-Cookman University.

DEBORAH CIRCELLIEDUCATION WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — A judge's award of nearly $771,000 to former football coach Alvin Wyatt in a breach of contract case didn't put an end to the legal wrangling over employee dismissals faced by Bethune-Cookman University. Even after another two were recently dissolved or dismissed, the university still has 10 employee-related suits pending in local circuit court, and new President Edison Jackson said dealing with the cases "is challenging for us, but we will work through them." A circuit judge awarded Wyatt, who won more football games than any other B-CU coach, nearly $771,000 on May 22 because the university breached his contract when he was fired in 2009, the judge ruled. University officials won't say if they will appeal the ruling in the Wyatt case and they would not speak about the other cases. But Jackson said administrators have been reviewing the faculty handbook and policies "to make sure that we have the appropriate policies and procedures." "We are moving in the right direction," said Jackson, who officially took over as president in March. "We are being careful about what we do in terms of reappointing and not reappointing and observing processes and procedures so people have due process." The Rev. John Harrington, chairman of Bethune-Cookman's board of trustees, said the university "feels like we've had good practices in place" but considering the university is a "70 million dollar a year business with thousands of students and hundreds of employees, we are not surprised that sometimes we are sued." "In our culture, where there are so many underemployed lawyers willing to take even the most frivolous causes in hopes of a quick settlement, it shouldn't be surprising there are lots of lawsuits," Harrington said. The university does everything it can, he said, to avoid litigation because "we want to use our resources to help students not line the pockets of people out to make a quick buck." The pending suits include one filed by former basketball coach Clifford Reed, who was let go in 2011 after being accused of refusing to cooperate with an investigation of sexual misconduct by some members of the team, including his son. A female student claimed she was gang-raped but no criminal charges were ever filed. Court records show the case being sent to the circuit court from the federal court. Reed's lawyer, Diego Handel, would only say that the case is still pending. Some lawyers representing former employees and a national association group for professors said the number of lawsuits against the university seems to be a "troublesome sign" and that the past administration had a history of ignoring due process procedures. "They seem to sorely be in need of revisions of their due process policies for both faculty and staff," said Anita Levy, an associate secretary for the American Association of University Professors, which investigated complaints by some B-CU faculty members. The national nonprofit group, which has more than 40,000 members, placed Bethune-Cookman in 2011 on what it calls its censure list, stating the university is out of compliance with its recommended policies, including dismissing people without proper due process. The university remains on the list, Levy said, "until (administrators) demonstrate they have revised their policies and made an effort to compensate the faculty who were the subject of the report as well as to be sure the overall climate for academic freedom and tenure is good." Bethune-Cookman officials said no steps can be taken regarding the censure list until after the lawsuits are resolved. The association's review looked at the dismissal of seven professors, four of whom were fired in 2009 over claims of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct after interviews the university said took place with about 20 faculty members and some students. Those four — dubbed in another B-CU report as the "Nigerian Mafia" — were alleged to have taken females students to an off-campus apartment to have sex. Ormond Beach attorney David Vukelja, who represents those professors and a fifth dismissed for an unrelated reason, said the professors deny the claims and stated no one has ever located the alleged apartment and "no one established grades were changed in exchange for sex." The professors — Russell Mootry, Trebor Negron, Smart Uhakheme and John Ukawuilulu — are seeking lost wages over the past four years and future damages since "their careers have been destroyed," Vukelja said. "These terminations were in large part based upon a bunch of hearsay reports of other faculty members as opposed to students actually making complaints," he said. Former President Trudie Kibbe Reed, who retired last year, previously said her priority was the "safety of our students." She said she took one of the students raising accusations to the Daytona Beach Police Department, though criminal charges were not filed. She also had stated that three of the four professors had student complaints for sexual misconduct prior to her administration. Vukelja said his other client, Daniel Miller, was let go after teaching for 11 years at the university because administrators said his academic credentials were no longer sufficient based on standards by the university's accreditation agency. Vukelja said his client received his master's in criminology and doctorate in criminal justice administration from colleges that offered the programs online. He said Miller feels he wasn't considered a "team player" because he wouldn't change the grade of a student who was the relative of a wealthy alum. The suit claims the administration believed Miller reported a gun incident on campus to the Daytona Beach Police Department and retaliated against him. B-CU denies the claim in its response. Another attorney, Earnest DeLoach, who represents a former reading specialist who was let go in 2011 after about 12 years with the university, said she also voiced opposition to changing the grade of a student at the time who was related to a member of the board of trustees. He said his client, Gloria Teemer, also was not given due process for appeal after being terminated. B-CU also denies those claims in its response. "It is interesting," DeLoach said, "that in multiple departments — athletics and academics, you name it — there is a consistent complaint of folks not following the policies and procedures of the university."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.